Joey Bada$$ - 1999

For parochial hip-hop fans, here's something that won't harsh your purist vibes: Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$. Seen by some as the second coming of Nas, the verbally lithe 17-year-old wasn't even zygote status when Illmatic dropped. Labelling Bada$$ the god's son isn't entirely out of line; the kid is a dazzling rapper.

Watching his progress will be interesting, since technical proficiency doesn't always equate with marketability. In the meantime, there's his debut mixtape, 1999, a fascinating homage to mid-90s NYC rap in both delivery and production. Diarizing instead of dick-wagging, Bada$$ subverts the kicky nostalgia-act tag. And couplets upon couplets (plus weird condiment puns like "They gon' catch up fuck what you must heard") prove he's a righteous emcee.